Report:

The Forrester Wave™: Customer Relationship Management Software For Financial Services, Q1 2025

Top Vendor Products for Customer Relationship Management Software For Financial Services in 2025

• BUSINESSNEXT
• Salesforce

Customer Relationship Management Software For Financial Services Vendor Product Comparisons 2025

• BUSINESSNEXT - Leaders
  

  Pros:

  • Market-leading vision to enable autonomous journeys for any financial product or service with a human in the loop where needed
  • Superior roadmap focusing on AI capabilities including specialized financial services AI agents, AI-enabled custom app builder, and advanced AI-powered analytics
  • Places AI at the core, blending predictive, generative, and agentic AI capabilities trained on financial services datasets
  • Large range of models including empathy-trained models to detect emotional nuances for better customer interactions
  • Out-of-the-box financial services workflows and ease of customization
  • Strong account management support and responsiveness

  Cons:

  • Limited marketplace for financial services apps compared to other CRMs
  • Partner network is primarily regional


• Salesforce - Leaders
  

  Pros:

  • Extensive financial services-specific capabilities through Financial Services Cloud (FSC)
  • AI agents purpose-built for financial services via Agentforce
  • Large ecosystem of partners and independent software vendors
  • Customer 360 includes financial services predictive analytics and effectively manages complex householding
  • Out-of-the-box financial services capabilities provide fast path to value
  • Strong roadmap including AI agents, out-of-the-box solutions to reduce call volumes, and middle-office efficiency capabilities

  Cons:

  • Pricing and packaging are complex compared to other CRMs
  • Many customers struggle with pricing and packaging complexity
  • Many customers aren't fully exploiting the available capabilities


• Creatio - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Vision to transform financial services CRM automation by unifying AI, no-code, and vertical CRM tools into a single composable solution
  • Easy-to-learn, full-featured financial services CRM with solid predictive, generative, and agentic AI capabilities
  • Out-of-the-box financial services capabilities that customers can easily build upon
  • UI that flattens learning curves
  • Genuine Care support praised by customers
  • Simple and transparent pricing and packaging compared to other CRMs
  • Good value for money

  Cons:

  • Marketplace for financial services apps is limited compared to other CRMs
  • Partner network is primarily regional


• Microsoft - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Unified platform across marketing, sales, and service that integrates with other business applications
  • Mature partner ecosystem with extensive network of global partners and independent software vendors
  • Copilots available for all CRM apps with unified Copilot Studio to create and deploy copilots and agents
  • Many prebuilt integrations with essential third-party digital and core financial services platforms
  • Broad marketplace selection of partner apps designed to support financial services firms' complex needs
  • Integration with other Microsoft tools

  Cons:

  • Lacks distinct vision and roadmap specifically for financial services
  • No financial services-specific templates in the core offering
  • Copilots are not purpose-built for financial services
  • Customers want more seamless contact center and copilot integration
  • Only one reference customer responded to Forrester's outreach


• ServiceNow - Strong Performers
  

  Pros:

  • Excels at knowledge management with automated discovery of gaps in knowledge management libraries
  • Robust workflow and automation capabilities
  • Vision to create singular low-/no-code platform connecting front-, middle-, and back-office teams
  • Agent desktop includes guidance, case progress, summaries of completed activities, timeline, and SLAs
  • Pervasive predictive AI capabilities
  • AI platform capabilities including email replies, recommendations, chat and case summarization

  Cons:

  • Pricing requires additional investment to access AI capabilities
  • Weaknesses in platform's handling of complex data structures
  • Complex licensing model
  • No predictive lead scoring at time of review
  • Agentic AI tools were not generally available at time of review
  • Only one reference customer responded to Forrester's outreach


• Oracle - Contenders
  

  Pros:

  • Conversational interface to access data and processes and guide users to right actions
  • Single platform allows cohesive customer service across multiple channels
  • Account 360 view draws on enterprisewide and journey data
  • Ensures compliance of activities in real time, reducing errors
  • Flexible and powerful analytics
  • Vision focuses on completeness of data, scale, and operations with quarterly capability releases

  Cons:

  • Missing industry-specific, prepackaged capabilities for financial services
  • CRM vision, strategy, and roadmap prioritize broader business needs rather than specific needs of financial services firms
  • Did not provide reference customers for evaluation
  • Declined to participate in full Forrester Wave evaluation process


• Pegasystems - Contenders
  

  Pros:

  • Campaign orchestration connects front- and back-office functions and compliance
  • Automated workflows are always learning and adapting while maintaining governance
  • CRM Simulator and Pega GenAI Coach provide dedicated user training and on-the-fly guidance
  • Pega GenAI Blueprint comes with financial services templates for collections, customer service, lending, onboarding, operations, and sales
  • Automation capabilities and ease of use
  • Helps organizations become less siloed and unifies customer service

  Cons:

  • Strategy is not to deliver a verticalized CRM for financial services
  • No financial services-specific prepackaged capabilities in core offering
  • Did not provide reference customers for evaluation
  • Declined to participate in full Forrester Wave evaluation process

Reference

• Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Customer Relationship Management Software For Financial Services, Q1 2025, 24-Mar-2025, ID

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